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Dismissed bank manager held for cheating customer

Mysore, Jan 16, 2014, DHNS:

He had fraudulently withdrawn ` 8 lakh after promising housing loan

A dismissed bank manager who had cheated a customer of Rs eight lakh after promising her home loan, has been arrested by Kuvempunagar police on Wednesday.

V Vishwanath, aged 48 years, dismissed manager of Karnataka Bank, Bogadi branch on the outskirts of the city, was picked by the police team led by Inspector K N Yeshwanth Kumar, from his Bangalore residence on K R road. He was brought to the city and produced before a court on Thursday. He has been remanded in judicial custody up to January 30.

In his complaint to the police on Wednesday, M Mahanand, a class one contractor and resident of Srirampura here had alleged that Vishwanath had cheated his wife Devika of Rs eight lakh.

Devika who was looking after the bank related matters, owing to her husband’s busy schedule, had opened a Savings Bank (SB) Account (817), and Over Draft (OD) Account (22) in the bank. Subsequently, Vishwanath promised a housing loan of Rs 18 lakh to Devika. The couple had plans to construct the first floor atop their house in KHB colony, Hootagalli.

On November 20, 2007, Devika submitted a set of documents sought by the bank to settle the loan amount. After sometime, she got a call asking for three blank cheques signed by her. Devika issued the cheques (572752/ 53/54) through her assistants, for which she also got an acknowledgement.

In the later days, when Devika and her husband went to the bank, Vishwanath bought time citing procedural hurdles. In the meantime, the couple were in for a shock after they got a car loan recovery notice from the same bank. The couple who became suspicious, went to the bank again asking for the statement. Meanwhile, in 2011, the bank authorities dismissed Vishwanath for two fraud cases registered in Saraswatipuram police station.

When their efforts to get the statement went in vain, the couple finally sent a lawyer notice to Vishwanath. They also moved the consumer court last December, which ordered the bank to issue the statement.

The couple was taken aback to learn that Vishwanath had fraudulently withdrawn Rs 8,01,251 from the account, making use of the cheque issued by her.

Other cases

Vishwanath who is already in soup, is facing charges of cheating to the tune of Rs one crore in a complaint lodged at Saraswatipuram station. In the same station, he also faces another charge of issuing duplicated stamp papers. He has succeeded in getting anticipatory bail in both the cases.